Fastening device



p 30, 1941. E. GISONDI 2,257,525

FASTENING DEVICE Filed Dec. 22, 1959 Patented Sept. 30, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE '7 Claims.

of buildings and more particularly to devices for temporarily securing wooden members together,

forinstance for securing siding-or sheathing to wooden studs or uprights, and for securing floor 3 boards to floor beams.

The invention provides a novel and improved means for connecting boards of various kinds to supporting members without the use of nails of conventional type and without necessitating r,

the passing of a nail, screw, or the like, through the body of the board.

It is frequently desirable in the erection of building structures of one kind or another to attech sheathing, flooring, or other flat members 1 to supporting members in a temporary manner so that, at the conclusion of a certain period of use, the entire structure may be dismantled. In many cases,'in fact in practically all instances only, it is highly desirable that the structural units employed shall suffer the least possible mutilation in being assembled and disassembled.

This is particularly true in the case of concrete forms. Much labor is expended in the erection of a concrete form, and much valuable lumber utilized in such a structure which, in the average case, is to remain in position for only a few days,

or until the concrete which is poured into the form sets or hardens so that the form is no longer ,n

necessary. It has heretofore been almost universal practice to make the forms of substantial Wooden supporting members and sheathing, generally tongue and groove sheathing, as the ac- In the an erection of the forms nails are customarily driven tual means for retaining the concrete.

through the sheathing boards from front to back, the nails penetrating the supporting members.

In taking down the forms it is necessary to withdraw the nails from the supporting members at I least and this is generally done by pounding the boards outwardly by blows applied upon their rear surfaces. Much loss of lumber results from a disassembling operation of this character, the

nail heads pulling through the boards in some instances or causing them to splinter or break in other cases. The tongued and grooved edges of the boards are injured and in general itmay be said that there is a loss of about twenty-five form is taken down can be made use of in the erection of a second form. a

It is one object of the invention to provide a fastening or securing device by means of which boards or board-like members can readily and firmly be attached to supporting members such 20 where a structure is erected for temporary use 9 J The present invention relates to securing devices of the type made use of in the erection as beams, floor joists, or the like, without actually being driven through such boards. Further, it is desired to provide'a securing device of general utility in thebuilding industry by means of which the individual boards of the covering layer or sheathing of any building structure may be rigidly and securely attached to beams or uprights by an operator who stands, in effect, in rear of these supports or on the opposite sides of the beams or uprights from the boards which are being secured in position. The ability to build up a facing layer of boards against a supporting structure, while standing in rear of such structure, is of the greatest advantage in the construction of concrete forms. Thus a concrete form for a wall or the like may be relatively narrow so that it is most difficult indeed to drive nails through the form boards with a hammer which must be swung in th very small space between the mutually facing Walls of the form. Likewise reinforcing bars, rods, and wires, are frequently positioned while the forms are being erected and the presence of reinforcing members in a narrow space is of course an added complication tending to prevent the rapid and accurate driving of nails. When securing devices suchas contemplated by the present invention are employed, there is no driving of any nail or nail-like object from the inside of the form but all driving or forcing operations are performed by tools located without the form and in rear of the board facing of the form.

The securing devices contemplated by the present invention may vary rather widely in details of design but in every instance will include two drivable portions disposed angularly with respect to each other and adapted to be driven into the angularly disposed surfaces of members to be secured together, together with a main portion connecting the drivable portions, the main portion not only forming a connection but likewise a handle by means of which the device may be conveniently held between the fingers while being positioned and while being driven. The

s ame'portion which comprises the handle and which facilitates the driving of the securing device into final position likewise facilitates its removal since this portion projects and is readily accessible after the device has been driven to final position, so that it may be readily engaged by the claws of a hammer or other means. Hence the structure put together by these devices may be readily dismantled as well as readily erected. By preference also the body or main portion of the securing device is provided intermediate the drivable portions with a lateral projection which may be tapped or driven into one of the members to be secured together, for instance into the side of an upright. The securing device is therefore connected to one of the members to be attached at two points, and to the other at one point. The three-point connection causes the securing device to more securely hold the parts together, in a manner hereinafter to be more clearly pointed out.

Within the import of the invention numerous types of securing devices may be designed and made use of and in the accompanying drawing several are illustrated by way of example.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a section through one of the supporting members of a building structure, for instance, through an upright supporting member of a concrete form, the edge of a sheathing member or board being shown in plan together with one type of securing device forthe attachment of the board to the supporting member;

Figure 2 is a similar view but showing a sec-- ond type of securing member;

Figure 3 is likewise a similar view, showing Y a third type of securing member, and a slightly different type of form board;

Figures 4, 5, and 6 are sections on lines 44, 5- -5 and 6-6 of Figures 1, 2 and 3, respectively;

Figure '7 is a perspective view of the portion of {if a form such as shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3 show-' ing a securing device held in the manner in which it should be held while being applied;

Figure 8 is a section similar to sections 4, 5

and 6 but showing a somewhat different type of securing device which is employed principally in the attachment to supporting members of board-like elements which are not tongued and grooved at their edges, as shown in Figures 4 and 5, or not overlapped, as indicated in Fig-' ure 6;

Figure 9 is a perspective view of the type of securing device shown in Figures 3 and 6; and

Figure 10 is a View of portion of the securing device shown in Figure 9 but with a modified :1

type of lateral protuberance.

While, as has previously been pointed out, the

securing device may be applied to quite a large number of building structures, for instance used n W in the lining of rooms with ornamental panels,

the attachment of floors to floor beams, the attachment of roofing to rafters, and the attachment of outside siding to vertical risers or studs,

it is particularly, useful in connection with struc- M tures which are assembled only temporarily and are to be disassembled after having been used only a comparatively short time. The securing device will therefore be described as it is actually used in connection with a concrete form.

In the drawing a supporting member of a concrete form is indicated by the numeral Ill and conveniently this supporting member may be of wood, such as a two-by-four, as wooden members of this size are largely made use of in spectively, which are angularly disposed with respect to each other, the portion l3 being intended to be driven into the supporting member 11B and the portion M into the board H. Members i3 and I4 are interconnected by a main or The upper grooved body portion comprising a part l5 in alignment with the portion It, a portion IE5 at right angles to the part [5, a portion I! at right angles to the drivable portion l4 and extending toward the drivable portion l3, and an intermediate portion m l8 connecting portions l6 and IT. The several portions described are integral one with anot er and in reality the securing device is fashioned from a continuous length of rod or wire-like material, the ends of the wire being sharpened as shown and the intermediate part being given the configuration illustrated. Intermediate the ends of the portion I! there is preferably located a circumferential enlargement IS with a sharp edge, which edge is driven into the upright [0 either just before or just after the portion I3 is driven into this upright.

By reference to Figur 7 it will be perceived that the securing device may be readily applied. The downturned end portion I4 is first inserted into the groove of the board member I l and then driven downwardly so that its point is embedded in the upper edge of this board member, in the position shown in Figure 4. The inner face of the downturned drivable portion M is somewhat flattened and this member is curved slightly as shown in order that the flattened inner face thereof will be caused to tightly engage thevertical inside wall of the groove of the board member. During this time the securing device has been held between the thumb and forefinger as indicated in Figure '7, and it is next in order to drive into the two-by-four the pointed end l3 of the device. This can easily be done without injury to the fingers. Finally, the laterally extending protuberance I9 is given a blow, as

indicated in Figure 1, so that it is embedded in the member ID. Three blows are all that is necessary, therefore, to position the securing device and it may be stated that the first blow will partially embed the portion I! of the securing device in the upper edge of the board member I i so that when a subsequent board member, such as indicated at Ha is added, and tapped downwardly, the portion I! of the securing device lies partly within an aperture formed partially in each of the adjacent boards.

It will of course be understood that each building structure such as a concrete form will include a number of uprights such as l6 and a number of superposed boards such as H. In forming a wall of any substantial size, the bottom and top boards II will be firmly nailed in position but all of the intermediate boards will be held securely to the supporting members ll] only by the securing devices l2 engaging their upper edges. The work of assembly can, however, be most quickly effected and likewise disassembly may be very rapidly carried out since the handle portions of the securing devices always project laterally from the supporting members in the manner shown and may be readily engaged by the claws of a hammer, or by some other tool so that the driven portions 53 may be withdrawn from the supporting members. After removal of the top board of a form, and pulling 60 out of the securing devices from the uprights in the manner just described, all of the boards of the form may be quickly removed by hand. As they are removed, the securing devices may be detached and, if bent, straightened for reuse. The boards removed are wholly uninjured and may be readily reused and likewise the supporting members H) are free of nails, screws, or other securing devices, and may be used many times.

In the form of securing devices shown in Figures 2 and 5 the main portion of each device includes a rectilinear member 27 which is integral with the drivable portion 25, and a handle portion 28 which preferably terminates in a driving head 29. The elongated portion 2! is fiat- 5 tened as at 30 and this flattened or knife-like portion is driven laterally into the supporting member 10, exactly as was the portion 19 of the form of the invention first described. In Figure 3 a form oi securing device is disclosed which is generally similar to that shown in Figure 2 but it may be preferred in some instances. It is formed of a single continuous rod-like member or wire, shaped by bending so as to have the generally triangular handle portion 35, the part 36 of which comprises a driving head. This form of securing device is applied exactly as before and in Figures 3 and 6 of the drawing it is shown to be applied to sheathing or siding boards of the type known as ship lapped, the adjacent edges having overlapping portions and not being grooved in the conventional manner.

It will be observed here that the drivable portion 31 forms the pointed end of a straight bar, the other end of which, indicated at 38, forms portion of the body or handle. The member 3'|38 lies in advance of the handle portion 39, which is connected to the elongated body member 39' so that the pointed drivable parts or anchoring members 14 and 31 will not tend to separate when member 39 is placed under tension. All of the forms of the invention shown will permit the carpenter using the same to exert a sub stantial pull upon a sheathing board such as indicated at l I in order to cause the board to closely engage the upright against which it is supposed to rest. This pull may be exerted with the securing device positioned as shown in Figure 7 so that the device may be driven while under tension, an advantage of considerable importance.

In the form of the invention shown in Figure 8, the securing device is provided with sharpened portions 40 and 4| which project in opposite directions from the end of the main member or portion 42. This form of device is used most frequently to secure to a supporting member, such as indicated at H), two boards or board-like members 43 and 44 which members are not provided with tongues and grooves but are perfectly flat. For instance the form of the securing device shown in Figure 8 is particularly useful in attaching fiber boards to supporting structures, the fiber boards being relatively soft and easily penetrated by the sharpened penetrating portions 40 and 4| of the device. The securing members are not visible from the face of the structure, which is a characteristic of all of the securing devices shown.

Still other types of securing devices may be designed and made use of in adapting the invention to building elements of various types. In every instance, however, the device includes spaced elements angularly disposed which are intended to be forced into angularly disposed elements to be secured together and a main portion connecting these two penetration portions which is so shaped or designed as to constitute a handle which may be grasped during the time that the securing device is being forced into position. This handle portion of course facilitates removal of the device. Securing devices of the type shown may be very cheaply manufactured, costing but slightly more than ordinary nails, but the savings effected by their use are very substantial, the devices themselves being easily straightened for reuse and the lumber being only slightly mutilated so that it may be many times reused. A vast saving of labor is effected, perhaps 60% of the labor of stripping or dismanmembers to be secured together by blows delivered upon the main portion while so grasped, said main portion being provided with a pro J'ecting part intermediate said end portions, said part being adapted to be driven into one of the two members to be connected by a blow delivered laterally on said main portion.

2. A fastening device of one-piece construction comprising a body portion, a single sharp prong at one end disposed at right angles to said body portion, another single sharp prong at the other end of the body portion disposed at right angles to said body portion and at right angles to the other prong, and an oifset portion in said body portion to provide a handle while the device is being driven.

3. A fastening device of one-piece construction comprising a body portion, a driving portion comprising a driving head at one end and a sharp prong at the other, said driving portion being rigidly attached near its center directly to one end of said body portion and at right angles to it, and a sharp prong at the other end of said body portion disposed at right angles to it and at right angles to said driving portion.

4. A fastening device of one-piece construction comprising a body portion, a sharp prong at one end disposed at right angles to said body portion, a prong member with sharp prongs at each end disposed at right angles to said body portion and said prong at the other end of said body portion, said body portion having an offset portion adapted to serve as a handle.

5. A fastening device comprising a main portion and a plurality of angularly disposed projections adapted to be driven into boards, at least two of which are parallel and adapted to be driven into the same board and at least one of which is disposed at an angle to the parallel ones.

6. A one-piece fastening device comprising a main portion, and angularly disposed end portions adapted to be driven into angularly disposed members to be secured together by blows delivered upon the main portion, said main por-'- tion being provided with a projecting part intermediate said end portions, said part being adapted to be driven into one of the two members to be connected by a blow delivered laterally on said main portion.

7. A fastening device of one-piece construction comprising a body portion, a driving portion comprising a driving fiat head at one end and a sharp prong at the other, said driving portion being rigidly attached near its center directly to one end of said body portion and at right angles to it, a sharp prong at the other end of said body portion disposed at right angles to it and at right angles to said driving portion, and a projecting part on said body portion intermediate said prongs adapted to be driven into a board by a blow delivered laterally on said body portion.

EMANUEL GISON'DI. 

